THE growing and expanding role of Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), in ensuring that forests are pivotal to mitigating climate change, will be performed without compromising its support and promotion of the timber industry.

This assurance was given by Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Robert Persaud when he made a presentation, to the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources Wednesday, on existing policies relating to the functioning of the GFC, in the Parliament Chamber of Public Buildings.

He said, over the past two years, Government has been building the GFC capacity for it to become the focal point to develop systems to address climate change issues, such as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) and the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

Persaud said GFC had also done a great deal of work in developing a monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) system, in terms of attracting the resources which can flow from the forests in their positive contribution to mitigating climate change.

But it has not divorced itself from its mandate to build a competitive timber sector, especially with an emphasis on valued-added products, the Minister said.

He disclosed that the Forest Products and Marketing Development Council (FPMDC) has been established to focus on the development of wood products, exploring more markets and encouraging investments in the sector.

Persaud said Government will also be increasing its support to forestry operators, in training and capacity building, so they can operate within the guidelines of the sustainable forestry management, as required by REDD and the LCDS.

“We have told stakeholders that, notwithstanding our efforts in terms of looking for incentives arising from the role our forests play in climate change mitigation, there will continue to be a role for the forestry sector.

“The changes will not affect the timber sector in any way that will see it downsized or lead to loss of jobs or closure. In fact, the measures will allow growth within the context of the emphasis on sustainable forestry management,” he reiterated.

Persaud gave the undertakings amidst indications that Guyana was pressing resolutely ahead with meeting the obligations for compensation for mitigating climate change.

GFC Commissioner, Mr. James Singh, who was with the Minister, told the Committee that a project is underway that will see accurate information on Guyana’s rate of deforestation becoming available by October this year.

He said GFC has been working on an estimated deforestation rate of about 0.3 per cent but is now doing extensive remote sensing analysis and biomass monitoring of 135 plots which will enable it to determine how much carbon is stored in the trees, their roots and the soil.

Singh said, by October, GFC will have a pretty good idea of what is the real rate of deforestation in this country.

Financial incentives
He said what will happen next is that Guyana’s financial incentives, for using its forest to mitigate climate change, would be linked to the results of that survey.

Singh emphasised, too, that this would not mean there will be no place for forestry or mining.

“What will have to happen is that they will have to be harmony and synchronisation to fully comply with the guidelines, as in the case of mining, the environmental guidelines for land reclamation,” he explained.

Singh said the degree of adherence to these guidelines will be monitored independently and would have to be rigidly enforced.

“Sustainable forestry activities will continue. However, independent evaluations will be done to verify that our guidelines support SFM and they will be revised from time to time. All activities in State forests will have to meet agreed standards and monitoring and auditing activities will be intensified to ensure compliance, ” he elaborated.

Singh said it will be mandatory to reduce the pressure on the prime species, like greenheart and purpleheart and harvesters would have to take the lesser used species into into consideration.

There will have to be better processing recovery rates and quality control would have to be significantly improved, he maintained.

Singh said those changes will require adjustments in technology mill design and training and a collaborative code of practice for processing is being developed.

“REDD also means that we will also need to add value, by reducing log exports; going into air and kiln drying while marketing will have to be more focused and with more emphasis on promotion of lesser used species.

“We will have to try to bring the smaller producers into clusters so that they can market more effectively,” he said.

Singh said REDD provides the financial incentives for local forests as the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Guyana and Norway obligates the former to maintain or even reduce the current rate of deforestation.